Hellebores Finally we have some.

Today Meg and I visited the Durham Garden Center and purchased 4 hellebores. Two were on sale because they were looking bad, still good if you ask me for $5 a gal, they are called Swirling Skirts. The other two were pricey, nearly broke my bank. They are called Lady Red and Lady Blue.

Jan at Thanks for Today is having a give away for a book on growing hellebores maybe she'll find our need for this book and send it our way.

We also picked up a Button Bush which has no buds yet and a Baptisa Carolina Moonlight that looks great.

Then a stop at The Treefrog Nursery and we got a pink and a red Camellia.

3 days rain, 3 days sunny now 3 more rain, geez...

Did not expect to have such a lucky day with butterflies. It was only sunny for a short time and I had an hour to make the rounds of the property around here including going up the gravel road to the neighbors meadow. This meadow is lined with Eastern Redbuds and the woods are full of Loblolly Pines the host plant for Eastern Pine Elfin yet finding a Eastern Pine Elfin here is once every 2-3 years usually the end of April or early May. I was thinking the meadow was mowed way to low and I was hoping for dragonflies perched on the higher twigs in the grass, not many twigs at all from the mowing, but the low grass gave me a clear look at the Eastern Pine Elfin featured below. I'd already seen 2 Henry's Elfins on the way to the meadow, seeing two species of elfins is not something you get to do everyday here in North Carolina.

This butterfly is about 5/8 inch tall

Loblolly and Virginia Pines are the food plant of the Eastern Pine Elfin.

Above is a male Springtime Darner found at the edge of the meadow.

Male Common Baskettail.
Called a baskettail because the eggs are carried in a ball at the end of the female's abdomen and it resembles a basket. You will only see this when the egg laying is happening. I have seen this from a canoe at Merchant's Millpond in eastern NC.

A primrose from the garden today

May Apples everywhere in our woods, still lots of Wind Flowers and a handful of Trout Lilies in bloom

Our first apple tree blossoms, I think it is a Granny Smith.

Moving back to the rain mode shortly...........